Gas prices rise
Gas prices rise
YOUNGSTOWN
Gas prices in the Mahoning Valley have jumped 5 cents in the past week, according to AAA’s Fuel Gauge Report.
The average price for a gallon of regular-grade gas is $3.44 per gallon, up from $3.39 last week and up from a $3.13-per-gallon average this time last year.
Gas in Ohio now averages $3.45 per gallon, up 12 cents compared with last week.
The average price for a gallon of gas in the Buckeye State this time last year was $3.10.
RG Steel fire
WARREN
A Saturday morning fire at RG Steel, 999 Pine Ave. SE, will idle a furnace for a approximately one week, the company said Monday.
Though no new iron or steel will be produced this week, the shop’s approximately 1,000 employees will work from current inventory to complete customer orders.
About 100 of those employees will go on voluntary layoff, company officials said.
The fire, which damaged a tweeter, a “critical” part of the furnace, happened about 2 a.m. Saturday.
The company gave no damage estimate. No one was injured.
QS&L settlement
AUSTINTOWN
Customers who purchased food and/or beverages at the Austintown Quaker Steak & Lube on or before June 30, 2011, may be entitled to compensation stemming from a class-action settlement.
The settlement, brought on by the rounding of some customers’ bills, can entitle customers to a one-time $5 coupon off the purchase of $10 in food and/or beverages at Quaker Steak & Lube, according to an official court notice.
Other affected locations include Canton, Mentor, Sheffield Village, Valley View and Vermilion.
For information, go to www.qslclasslitigation.com, or call 419-627-0400.
A hearing at the Erie County Courthouse regarding the case takes place June 21 to consider final approval of the settlement.
Natural-gas hearing
STEUBENVILLE
The U.S. House of Representative’s Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources will meet at Eastern Gateway Community College, 4000 Sunset Blvd., Lecture Hall 2102, at 9 a.m. Monday.
The hearing will discuss “Natural Gas — America’s New Energy Opportunity: Creating Jobs, Energy and Community Growth.”
Hearing witnesses are invitation-only; a witness list will be made available once participants are confirmed.
EU ministers work on Greece bailout
BRUSSELS
Eurozone governments worked into the night Monday, hoping to agree on a long-awaited rescue package for Greece that would save it from a potentially calamitous bankruptcy next month, but several key points of division remained, senior officials said.
Finance ministers meeting in Brussels on Monday still were wrangling over how to reduce Greece’s debt load further and impose even tighter control over the country’s spending, and negotiations were expected to stretch late into the night. Rich countries such as Germany and the Netherlands and the International Monetary Fund want to be sure that Athens eventually can survive without aid.
But after months of delays, time for Greece is running out. The country needs to secure the $170 billion bailout so it can move ahead with a related $130 billion debt-relief deal with private investors. That deal needs to be in place quickly if Athens is to avoid a disorderly default on a bond repayment March 20.
Vindicator staff/wire reports